Holla Back NYC empowers New Yorkers to Holla Back at street harassers. Whether you're commuting, lunching, partying, dancing, walking, chilling, drinking, or sunning, you have the right to feel safe, confident, and sexy, without being the object of some turd's fantasy. So stop walkin' on and Holla Back:
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Sunday, February 07, 2010

Police Insensitivity Deepens the Pain

Today, I was walking across the street, with my headphones on, minding my own business to go to the store. When I reached the other side of the street, I caught a guy hanging with a female and a group of friends, staring at me. I looked at him back and asked, "What the fuck are you looking at?" He says, "You look beautiful." I cursed him out, and he comes charging at me, stepping, literally, up to my face. Not wanting to show any signs of fear, I stood there in a Mexican Standoff. When he walked away and I told him not to fuck with me, he came back again and was literally in my face. I went to the store, then pondered what had happened. The guy, who was black, with blue jeans and a black and white sweater, looked like a psycho and I noticed that he was standing outside a liquor store drinking beer. One thing I learned is that, if you show weakness in neighborhoods like this, bullies will intimidate you even more so. So I bravely went back out there to let him know that I am not afraid of him. He charged at me again, but not until I employed one of my karate kicks from my Tae Kwondo Class to put him in his place. He threw beer at me and when I ran after him, him and his posse started awalking off.

Now, here is where it really pisses me off. I saw some cops, a male and female, on the other side of the street where they were heading (but not on the opposite or same side of the street where the crime took place.) When I went to report what had happened, the male cop - an indignant chauvinist - asked what happened. I said it was a case of sexual harassment, with the punk getting upset since I wouldn't meet his demands. He then belligerently asked exactly what did I say. When I told him that I told the guy what the fuck was he staring at, the cop, a Hispanic man, said, "Well, that set him off," effectively blaming me for what happened. That comment set me off. To blame me for that attack simply because of what I said is an insult to my humanity and character. I feel that that statement typifies what most cops feel towards women, especially women on color, in circumstances like that. We are just supposed to grin, smile, and put up with it and not challenge their male authority/ entitlement. Esp. being a woman of color, I feel that statement basically shows what the cops think of us as women of color; that we are animals to be subject to animalistic behavior and we are not worthy of being treated like human beings. I told the cop that I knew a guy who justified rape who said the SAME exact thing he said. Then, when I informed him that my area is a place where a lot of pimps troll for vulnerable women and girls and that does who DON 'T say anything and are docile get treated the worst, he went on to state that the are is FULL of prostitution, not PIMPS, but prostitutes. Basically, this chauvinist piece of shit thinks that it is more of a crime for a woman to charge for her own body rather than a guy who attacks a woman simply for rejecting his compliment. Then he asked what did I DO for a living, so as to justify treating me like trash! What a sick fuck. My dad was a cop and it is a fucking shame when you have someone like that on the police department who harbors such views. I will report him. As to what good that will do, I don't know. But hopefully that file along with other complaints will take his ass off the force. His badge number is 34473 and his name is Lopez.